


Something To Figure Out

by XvoodooXXblueX



Category: Watchmen (Comic), Watchmen - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, pre-slash all of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-13
Updated: 2014-03-13
Packaged: 2018-01-15 14:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1308910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XvoodooXXblueX/pseuds/XvoodooXXblueX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Paired up with Hollis on patrol, Bill figures out what he wants, and Hollis, what he doesn't want.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something To Figure Out

Both Bill and Hollis were soaked when they came back from patrol. They’d been partnered up for a week now and it had been raining for three days and nights running, hard enough to make people worry about floods. Generally, Bill and Hollis worked well together. Not quite as well as Bill and Byron, but that was to be expected. After all, they hadn’t had the time yet to fall into that kind of sync.

Both men headed straight for the locker room and showers. No one else seemed to be back yet anyway. Bill followed Hollis into the large, tiled bathroom and began undressing the moment the door swung shut behind them. Hollis was busying himself wringing his cowl out above the sink and when he turned around came face to face with a mostly nude Bill.

“Jesus Christ,” Hollis exclaimed and turned his back to Bill swiftly. “A little warning next time?”

Bill’s eyes widened in surprise for just a moment and he chuckled, continuing with what he was doing.

“Sorry, man,” Bill said, stripping off his soaking wet socks. “Too used to doing this.”

It was true; Byron never seemed to mind. Hollis sighed and turned back around, also beginning to undress.

“Never mind,” he said, kicking off his boots. “As I said, just a little warning next time.”

Bill nodded and the next time he looked up from untangling his cape Hollis was undressed too, save for his socks. Their eyes met for a split second and neither of them seemed to be able to look away. There were other places, Bill realised, he wanted to look, but this was Hollis and they didn’t know each other too well and Bill could remember just how uncomfortable he’d been the first time Byron had given him the once-over, the way he so often did, these days.

As if coming to a silent accord, both Bill and Hollis looked away at the same time, their gazes lingering on each other’s chests for just a second too long before Bill decided it was high time he headed for the shower.

*

“There’s water _in_ my boots,” Bill complained the next night, dumping the contents of his footwear into the bathroom sink. Hollis simply grunted, shouldering up next to Bill to do the same with his boots. Stepping away from the sink, Hollis’ bare feet slipped a little on the tiled floor. Bill only just managed to fling his arm out to steady the other man before he went sailing to the ground. Hollis was temporarily pulled towards Bill, their chests connecting awkwardly, reminding both of them that they’d taken off their shirts. Hollis pulled away somewhat abruptly, though his hand was still resting somewhere on Bill’s bicep. Again their gazes locked for one intense moment before Bill’s attention wandered lower to Hollis’ lips. He suddenly wondered what would happen if he just leant in and kissed Hollis.

Bill was torn from his musings, however, by Hollis suddenly looking slightly shocked and quickly removing his hand from Bill’s arm, as if he had been burned. Hollis fled to the showers, then, leaving Bill feeling a little dazed. He really hadn’t meant to make Hollis uncomfortable. It just hadn’t quite occurred to Bill that the situation might bother Hollis, just as it hadn’t occurred to Bill that it might be strange that he hadn’t been bothered by it at all.

*

The next night, they had to finish patrol early. The rain had got a lot heavier, making it very hard to see and Hollis had hurt his leg clambering over a fence in pursuit of a mugger.

Entering headquarters, Bill and Hollis headed straight for the meeting room, sopping-wet clothes be damned. There was some blood seeping through a tear Hollis’ trousers and Bill was adamant that he have a look at the damage and do what he can to stop the bleeding.

Once in the meeting room, Bill retrieved some first-aid supplies from a cupboard and a beer from the fridge. He handed the beer to Hollis, something that earned him a raised eyebrow, and then set to work on examining Hollis’ leg.

“You must have got caught on some pretty huge splinter,” Bill observed. “I can clean around it and see if I can find anything in there, but you’ll have to wait for Byron to take proper care of this. He’s way better at this kinda stuff…”

Bill began to clean the wound on Hollis’ leg with a concentration that he soon found slipping. He usually had Byron’s expertise at hand when he did this and it was now beginning to dawn on him that the beer probably hadn’t been a necessity with Hollis, whereas Byron tended to make it essential. Bill simply found himself used to it, not that he minded.

“There. It’s as clean as I can get it,” Bill announced after a few minutes, discarding some bloody strips of gauze as Hollis bent down from his perch on the sofa to inspect the wound. Both Bill and Hollis suddenly looked up at the same time, their faces so close they had to go a little cross-eyed to see each other properly. This time, though, Bill’s eyes slid to Hollis’ lips almost immediately and after a beat, without much deliberation, Bill leaned in and pressed his lips to Hollis’ in a tentative kiss.

Hollis went rigid for a moment, making Bill think he’d stopped breathing, but some of the tension soon dissipated and when Hollis didn’t show any signs of pulling away, Bill decided to deepen the kiss, making his lips more pliant as Hollis made some small attempts to reciprocate.

Once they broke the kiss, both men sat in apprehensive silence.

“Do you… want this?” Bill finally asked, gazing up at Hollis who shook his head, looking almost remorseful.

“No.” Hollis swallowed. “Do you?”

Bill frowned, ready to contemplate his answer, but he already knew it and might have known it for longer than he had thought.

“Yeah…,” Bill answered quietly, with a small sigh. “Just not… you know—”

“With me,” Hollis finished the sentence for Bill, smiling a little awkwardly.

Bill nodded, not saying anything more, but gathering the first-aid supplies from the floor.

“Then get yourself out of those wet rags and wait for Byron,” Hollis said, a small smirk on his lips. “He’ll probably want one of those beers too,” he added, as an afterthought.


End file.
